HWS News
10 March 2021 Crocetta '21 Publishes on Jewish Identity
Jillian Crocetta '21 explores her Jewish identity in an essay published by New Voices, a Jewish and justice-focused magazine written by and for college students.
In an essay published by New Voices, Jillian Crocetta '21 examines the Jewish identity she began to actively explore after attending a Shabbat dinner at the Abbe Center for Jewish Life.
That first dinner in the spring of 2018 was a turning point for the English and writing and rhetoric double major: she soon declared a Holocaust studies minor, became the Jewish Education Chair on the Hillel board and was accepted to participate in the Human Rights and Genocide Symposium.
"That night, I found renewal," Crocetta writes. "Maybe it was in the salmon dinner with roast potatoes and green beans, or the welcoming faces, or just the mere accomplishment of being there Something stuck that day, some feeling that connected me to this building and those people."
In the essay, she goes on to explore her identity through the lens of the coronavirus pandemic, including the abrupt end to a study abroad semester in England and what it was like to celebrate a lonely Seder during Passover.
Director of the Abbe Center for Jewish Life and Hillel Adviser Julianne Miller and Professor of Religious Studies Michael Dobkowski served as advisers to Crocetta as she was developing the piece.
To read the complete essay, click here.